After 12 previous failed attempts over the past two years, the fractious parties of Lebanon’s parliament overcame their differences earlier Thursday and elected Gen. Joseph Aoun, head of the Lebanese armed forces, as their country’s new president.
That rare expression of political unity creates an opportunity for the country to emerge from a deep economic and political crisis resulting from years of violence, corruption, and religious division. General Aoun won the support of 99 of 128 members of parliament. He struck an immediate chord of harmony afterward, declaring that his election meant that no one had been “defeated.”
The break in Lebanon’s power vacuum follows the collapse last month of the Assad regime in neighboring Syria and the weakening of Hezbollah, Iran’s main militant proxy in Lebanon, through war with Israel. Backed by the United States, France, and Saudi Arabia, Mr. Aoun faces an immediate task in fulfilling the terms of a ceasefire brokered between Israel and Hezbollah in November. That agreement, which is set to expire later this month, requires establishing the military’s control across southern Lebanon, the militant group’s stronghold.
Addressing parliament, Mr. Aoun pledged to “confirm the state’s right to monopolize the carrying of weapons” by strengthening the army’s capability to protect the country’s borders. That marks a significant turn. Mr. Aoun kept the armed forces on the sidelines for most of the 13-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The vote in parliament demonstrated the extent to which the militant group has been discredited since Israel eliminated its top leaders. Blocs that in recent years have shied from open confrontation with Hezbollah openly rebuffed its representatives both within the chamber and on social media. Even its favored candidate threw his support behind Mr. Aoun.
In a country whose currency has lost 98% of its value since 2019 and where 80% of the population lives below the poverty line, Mr. Aoun quickly acknowledged that Lebanon’s security requires more than military solutions. “There must be equality among all citizens,” he told parliament. “There must be equality before the law…. Justice is the only protection for all citizens.”
In vowing to prioritize public education, environmental protection, and electoral reform, the new president may have been nodding to the aspirations that shaped the 2019 “October Revolution” – a spontaneous uprising of youth demanding democratic reforms. The open celebrations across Lebanon following Mr. Aoun’s elections, even in Hezbollah’s southern stronghold, showed that those hopes endure.
“The social justice agenda cannot be advanced without first breaking away from the current sectarian state and moving toward a civil state,” wrote Ghia Osseiran, a fellow researcher at the Centre for Lebanese Studies, of the youth protests.
For the first time in decades, wrote Lebanese journalist Kim Ghattas in the Financial Times, there is “a unique opportunity to reimagine Lebanon’s future without the threat of violence.”